The state of freight

MedSpeed is a company very aware of the fact that effective same-day logistics in the healthcare world saves money – but, far more importantly, it saves lives.

Recently, the company conducted a survey of nurses on the impact that medical deliveries have on care delivery, the results of which from over 350 respondents were truly eye-opening.

87% of the nurses responded that logistical efficiency, or lack thereof, effected their work on a weekly basis, while 71% stated that delivery errors or delays directly effected their patient care capabilities at least once a month.

Additionally, over the past year, 56% of nurses said that medical courier ineptitude led to patient procedures needing to be rescheduled.¹

Jake Crampton is the CEO of MedSpeed, a company that is dedicated to transforming the perils of medical courier service  into an asset.

“There is a significant difference between a medical courier that delivers items from Point A to Point B, and a partner like MedSpeed that designs and operates an agile healthcare logistics network. Our system-wide approach produces value for our customers by making transportation a strategic asset, providing our customers with a smarter network.

We begin each relationship by conducting a Transportation Evaluation and Design, or TED, as we call it. This exercise helps us identify redundancies as well as opportunities for more effective logistics.

With one MedSpeed customer, we received an RFP and responded as requested. After being selected as the partner of choice, we conducted a TED to ensure we understood the full scope of operations. During that analysis, we discovered four additional couriers the customer’s leadership team was unaware of. Our team created a solution that incorporated all movements within the network into an efficient and streamlined system with far better reliability. Because of the dependable service we provide, they trust the network, and as a result, clinicians order far less on-demand/STAT service. Without the TED, the network would not have streamlined all logistics for the customer.”

Don’t get clocked at the dock

Managing and shipping inventory effectively in healthcare today could not ever be more critical or more costly. Healthcare networks and facilities often struggle with this, and there are many companies attempting to step in and aid healthcare systems in attaining and managing their inventories.

According to Cory Turner, Senior Director of Healthcare Strategy & Product Marketing at Tecsys, “shipping and transportation in healthcare is an opportunity wrapped in a challenge. Whether it’s direct sourcing of essential supplies, med-surg replenishments to the hospital or a critical patient specimen that needs to be delivered to the lab within one hour, logistics is everywhere and costs a lot — about 25% of the total cost of supply chain operations, in fact. Despite this, most healthcare organizations never properly account for or manage those costs."

Not that health systems aren’t trying their best. However, it is a very complex and complicated process, and managing all parts of a supply chain inventory is comparable to weathering a storm with innumerable and ever-changing variables.

Turner added, "on the heels of an exceptionally difficult few years, health systems are more compelled than ever to gain visibility and control over the wild west of couriers, carriers, and departmental cowboys so they don’t lose sight of what’s available across their network. Corralling all of that demands governance and a concerted effort to centralize shipping and transportation management.

“Without the ability to control inbound and outbound processes, healthcare supply chain managers are leaving a huge gap in their resiliency planning, and that’s where we encourage our healthcare customers to focus: Evaluate your goods in motion from end-to-end and pinpoint where there are blind spots, handoffs, or error-prone processes. This helps drive down logistics costs with a single, centralized, easy-to-use system.”

Ryders on the storm

Organizations who are dedicated to corralling the wild west of freight and shipping in hospitals today are often doing their best to develop digital solutions to see through all of the processes.

Ryder System, Inc. is committed to providing their customers with a highly efficient logistical platform, as Steve Sensing, their President of Supply Chain Solutions, details.

“What has quickly become a key differentiator for Ryder and for Ryder customers is RyderShare, our proprietary, end-to-end visibility and collaborative logistics technology platform.

Ryder’s new solution is focused on answering all the aspects of transporting and delivering goods, and also takes on the key element of warehousing.

Sensing continued, “when we initially rolled out RyderShare, we started with a focus on the transport of goods. In February of this year, we announced that RyderShare now includes a warehouse management solution for true end-to-end visibility as goods move inbound on trucks to within the four walls of warehouses and distribution centers and, ultimately, outbound to their final destinations. The result is a digital platform by a 3PL that provides real-time visibility, collaboration, and exception management throughout the supply chain.”

Since the original launch in May of 2020, RyderShare has logged nearly seven million shipments with customers realizing  improvements in productivity, labor efficiency, and on-time delivery performance.”

Visibility Matters

Vantage Point Logistics (VPL) is a company dedicated to visibility. Their cloud-based software platform provides their customers with transparency throughout the entire supply chain lifecycle. Moreover, VPL focuses on developing shipping solutions exclusive to the needs of their clients, and works with them every step of the way.

 “We changed the path of the freight management industry by creating a Smart Supply Chain Platform, the industry’s first and only, freight management program built with technology. We were approached by a large IDN that wanted to run their freight management program themselves. We took a supportive position, ‘sure, you can do that, but don’t go it alone.’

 “With one of the industry’s largest IDNs in collaboration with us, we built a ‘do-it-yourself’ platform that takes much of the guesswork out of managing a freight program. With shipping volume that would dwarf the next largest IDN, this health system was able to manage their own freight program with significantly less time than their interaction with a previous freight management provider, while saving several million dollars a year. With a successful outcome in hand, we converted this tailored solution into the industry’s first and only freight management technology, which creates economies of scale that cannot be accomplished in the traditional ‘freight management as-a-service’ model.

 Their customer-driven approach, centered on visibility, has proved more than reliable, especially during the recent pandemic.

 “During the pandemic, a customer of ours called with the challenge of keeping track of PPE orders. Like many, they were ordering from many different suppliers, including non-healthcare suppliers – even a western-wear outfitter was making PPE! They had a team of people focused on acquisition of PPE and needed to know throughout the day the status of the orders they had placed and what quantities, if any, were going to be delivered so they could quickly react and make alternative arrangements. We developed technology to collect the order status from their suppliers. This allowed their team to focus on what they did best – product acquisition – and took the order status busywork and automated it.  This was the framework that became our VPL View Track & Trace product that is now available allowing anyone in the IDN to keep track of their orders.”

People make the difference

Caduceus Medical Logistics has had to utilize principles such as insight and innovation more than ever, as they literally commenced operations right as the COVID pandemic began its spread. Mark Speight is the Chief Operating Officer of Caduceus Medical Logistics.

“Being “born” during the pandemic is notable on its own.   We have put together a management team that combines vast experience in medical logistics, mechatronics, industrial and computer engineering, project and financial management, and military leadership and execution. We are enthusiastically looking to future applications of our team’s experience to discover how cutting-edge technology such as artificial intelligence, lidar and unmanned air system technology can be used to better serve our partners and patients. We are currently pursuing collaborations with academia, government, and industry (MIT, Georgia Tech, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and various industry partners).

“Our choice of technologies enables real-time route optimizations and balances dispatch with driver loads, giving us better insight through enhanced data collection and analysis. We can respond to requests within minutes to provide delivery of medical special needs. Our integrated software systems focus on operational excellence and efficiency, allowing us to provide a high quality service while optimizing routes to use less fuel and consume fewer resources.   This is only the tool; one of the three legs Caduceus stands on. Without an efficient and effective process as well as good people, the best tools in the world will not make a satisfied customer. Our experienced people using the best tools and processes are our platform and what really set us apart.

“Everyone has real time tracking, data analysis and dashboards at this point. As early optimization adopters, we go a step further utilizing connected, dynamic, load leveling optimization.  We work with large, complex datasets such as 1000’s of deliveries, and apply algorithms that will consider requirements such as time window, traffic, and special items like refrigeration.  Using this type of analysis allows us to go above and beyond and share value back with our customers.  For example, our team has provided over $100,000 in annual validated savings for a major nationwide healthcare system while improving service capabilities and user satisfaction.”

Opti-mizing all aspects

Optifreight Logistics is a company that is continually dedicated to seeing all areas of freight and shipping, and using innovative insight to develop the best answers.

“Oversight into all areas of shipping spend is critical to ensure program compliance and savings optimization,” noted Emily Gallo, Senior Vice President and General Manager at OptiFreight Logistics. “Largely due to staffing constraints and lack of automation, it is difficult for healthcare providers to understand where their gaps are and where they can be more efficient. At OptiFreight Logistics, we are continuously investing in new technology and innovating to better serve our customers, working alongside customers to help them evolve.”

Gallo shares two key examples of how they are innovating to transform shipping and logistics to support customer needs now and in the future:

"TotalVue technology solution provides comprehensive data analytics empowering customers to find new savings, gain new predictive insights, track progress, benchmark performance and maximize discounts.

In order to help synthesize and act on the data and analytics, we combine the power of our technology with our team of committed experts to uncover innovative ways health systems can standardize and drive value across various sites of care."

Reference:
1.  https://www.medspeed.com/?p=2919